In the Shadows
by bangbangbang
Summary: Gabriella was pretty, smart and had a good personality, but her best friend Sharpay was always the one with guys fawning over her. Would a night out with her friends give her the opportunity to be the one attended to for once? TxG.


**A/N: Hello dear friends. It's been a while. College has kept me quite busy and my muse has been gone for a while. However, recent experiences have inspired me to write this new story. Im not quite sure what the end will be like just yet, as I have yet to experience it, but this will be sort of a reflection of my experiences through Troy and Gabriella. Of course, even if I don't get my happy ending, there is no way I can let Troy and Gabriella not get one. That just wouldn't be right.**

**Anywyas, I haven't written anything like this lately so please pardon me if this isn't that great. I just hope you all at least enjoy it a bit.**

**Enjoy!**

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**In the Shadows**

The shrill sound of the ringing bell could be heard all throughout the halls of East High. Students began to emerge from their classrooms, all with excited facial expressions. The chatter in the halls was deafening, as everyone was discussing their plans for the weekend. It was finally Friday, and every student at the school was thrilled to finally be done for the week. Among these students was Gabriella Montez, the smartest girl in the class. However, she was not the typical smart student, for she managed to get involved in so many school activities that it was impossible to categorize her in one group. For that reason, she had created a group of friends that varied from jocks to musical performers.

These precise friends were all gravitating toward their usual meeting spot; the fountain at the entrance of the school. Every day after school, even if they had to stay back for extracurriculars, the group of friends met at the fountain to chat, if only for a minute. However, on Fridays, the fountain became the spot for them to discuss their weekend plans. The friends approached the fountain with smiles and greeted each other.

"Ok, I think we should spice things up this weekend. Every singe Friday, we end up going to Crazy Creek," Sharpay said, referring to their typical hang out place. "I think we should hit the Brewery tonight. I know one of the bouncers because he used to be daddy's bodyguard back in the day and I'm pretty sure he can get us all in. So who's in?" she asked.

It was hard for any of them to disagree. In fact, they were all eager to go to a bar and drink, since it was not something they got to do often. Their usual hang out places were coffee houses. They would only get to drink when they went to house parties, which was a rare occurrence due to the tight security in the small town.

The group of friends agreed to meet at the bar at 9 and went on their ways, each of them mounting the school buses that would take them to their respective homes. Despite the fact that Gabriella and Sharpay lived a bit far from each other, they both climbed on board of Gabriella's school bus, as Sharpay had been planning on sleeping over at Gabriella's because her mom was away on a trip.

"I'm so excited for tonight! It should be a lot of fun," said Sharpay.

"I know. So am I. I have this gut feeling that it will be a good night," said Gabriella, her eyes shinning with excitement.

"Hmmm…perhaps tonight will be the night when you will finally get yourself a boy"

"I don't know Shar. Its not like I can just pick out a guy in the crowd and make him my boyfriend. Believe me, I would have one already if it was that easy. Guys just aren't interested in me." Said Gabriella. Although she was a beautiful girl with a great personality and intelligence, she never managed to attract guys. In the back of her mind, she somewhat blamed Sharpay for that. Gabriella believed that she didn't stand a chance at getting guys to like her when Sharpay was around. After all, Sharpay was confident, blonde, beautiful and everything guys looked for in a girl. And as much as Gabriella tried to tell herself that she, too, was everything a guy could ever want, it was hard for her to believe it when no guys ever approached her. She had in fact, even proven her theory when she went away for summer camp the year before. In that wonderful summer, she had met the first and as of now, last boy that had ever been interested in her. He had been her first. Sharpay had not been at that summer camp and Gabriella believed that if she had been, things would have gone a lot differently.

"We'll see! You never know what the night holds!" said Sharpay, dismissing her friend's words.

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It was approximately 9pm and both girls were walking to the Brewery, which was only about 5 blocks away from Gabriella's house. The Brewery was a restaurant that turned into a bar after 10pm. The friends had planned on having a light dinner and some drinks once they got there. Gabriella and Sharpay approached the entrance and saw their friends standing there.

Their group of friends consisted of Kelsi, Martha, Taylor, Ryan, Jason, Zeke, Chad and Troy. They were all pretty much inseparable. However, they looked close from afar than they actually were. In fact, many of them were only good friends with two or three of them. It was the common friendships that brought them all together as a group. For this reason, although Gabriella was technically friends them, she was truly only close with Kelsi, Taylor, Sharpay and Ryan. She and Martha got along really well but Martha's overly perky demeanor often threw Gabriella off. Chad was Taylor's boyfriend, for which reason she knew him well, and Zeke, Jason and Troy were best friends with Chad, which is why they were always around.

After a nice dinner, the friends moved from the table they had shared to the bar, where the real fun was about to begin. Gabriella and Sharpay were standing together, waiting for the bartender to come to them. Gabriella turned away from Sharpay to call the bartender over. Finally, after what seemed like hours but in reality had only been minutes, the bartender brought over Gabriella's favorite drink, Vodka Cranberry. Gabriella took a sip, swallowed, and turned back to talk to Sharpay only to find someone else taking her place.

"Hey Gabs. It's good to see you. I feel like I've barely seen you all week." Said Troy. Gabriella had always thought Troy was the most handsome boy she had ever seen. However, she knew that the odds of him liking her were slim to none, for which reason she had forced herself to only see him as a friend.

"Hey Troy!" Gabriella said, taking another sip of her drink. "It's so good to see you too. I'm glad we get to hang out tonight." Gabriella said with honesty. The truth was, her efforts to see him as just a friend were very effective. She never thought of him romantically and they truly were just friends. Sure, they weren't best friends or anything of the sort, but they got along great and enjoyed each other's company.

"So am I. Hey, do you want to go later to this bar next door? There's this guy playing music there that I heard is pretty good. What do you say? We could get Shar to come too."

"Sure. That sounds fun." she said, thinking nothing of it.

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Later on in the night, Kelsi, Martha, Chad, Taylor and Ryan had headed home for the night. Troy had managed to convince Jason, Zeke and Sharpay to join him and Gabriella at Amber, the bar next door. They all walked together and went inside, surprised that they hadn't been asked to show their nonexistent IDs.

"Shar, Gabs, you want a beer?" asked Troy.

Both girls agreed and joined him at the bar. He handed each girl her Bud Light and took a sip of his own. Gabriella was surprised that he paid for her and Sharpay's beers. She had not been expecting that. She had been having a lot of fun talking to Troy that night. Their conversations had been mostly superficial but Gabriella felt at ease talking to him. She walked over to Zeke, whom she had barely talked to all night, and asked him about his recently acquired cooking hobby. As she listened to Zeke ramble about his latest culinary accomplishment, her eyes traveled toward the bar, where Sharpay and Troy were standing close to each other talking. It did not surprise Gabriella that Troy seemed interested I Sharpay. After all, pretty much every guy was. It was inevitable however, for Gabriella to feel some jealously towards Sharpay. She knew that Troy would never really be interested in her and she honestly didn't even like him that way, but she couldn't help but ask herself: what if?

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A bit later, after receiving a long rant from Zeke, Gabriella was sitting in a bar stool pretending to be interested in the basketball game that was showing on a tv screen, she felt two hands gently massage her shoulders. She turned to look behind her when she saw two bright blue orbs staring intently at her.

"Hey, why are you here all alone when you could be dancing with me?

"Dancing? I don't know if you've noticed Troy but no one is really dancing. The music is great but this isn't the kind of place people dance at."

"Who cares? Come on." He said, grabbing onto her hand and dragging her out of her moping state. Gabriella felt elated that Troy was showing her some attention even though she suspected that he was just trying to get her to have fun. He twirled her in his arms and jokingly pretended to dip her. Anyone watching them could tell they were truly enjoying each other's presence. Unfortunately, their fun was short lived when the bar lights turned on. It was clearly closing time, which meant it was time to go home. Zeke and Jason approached Troy, wondering if he was about ready to go. It was then that Troy asked Gabriella what was perhaps the most confusing question she had ever been asked.

"Should I stay? I mean, do I have a reason to stay?"

"Umm.. I don't know, do you? The bar is closing but if you want to hang around at my place, Shar and I will probably order a pizza and chill for a bit before going to bed." Said Gabriella. She was unsure about Troy's reasons for wanting to stay. Was he hitting on her? Was he trying to get closer to Sharpay? Was he simply not in the mood to go home yet?

"Actually," said Sharpay, cutting in. "I already ordered the pizza so it should be at your house by the time we get there."

"Well, I do love pizza." Said Troy. "Zeke, Jay, I'll call you guys tomorrow to shoot some hoops. I'm staying over at Gabs'. My mom thinks I'm sleeping at your place Zeke, so if she ever asks, I was there."

"Alright man," said Zeke, bumping his fist with Troy's. "Call me if you need a ride tomorrow morning."

"Will do. Thanks man."

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**I would appreciate some feedback, even if it's just a one word review. I just want to know if this is complete crap or if its ok.**


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